Today I had a lesson with Kaila, focusing on the lead by the tail, especially making turns.

We started by positioning Kai by the wall to set us up for success and getting him very light. Then I practiced putting the rope on the wall side rather then the inside where it was before. This is because if I want to ask him to make turns with his tail I can reinforce it with the rope. Kai kept turning to face me because he felt the rope on his bum. I played some friendly game so that he was no longer reacting to the rope and then we got right back to leading by the tail.

Then Kai pulled on the rope and it slipped out of my fingers. Kai began to walk away and then I noticed that the arena door had been left open by another boarder. Kai noticed that too and he decided to make a dash for it. He had walked down all the way past the stud paddock before I got to him. I calmly backed him ALL the way back into the arena. And we began to work on the lead by the tail again.

I’ve been struggling with asking Kai again right after a correction. My take home message from the lesson is to get back to the task I was doing right away and not to stop to think things over. The important point is not to let Kai soak on the correction.